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Screeds

September 11, 2012

After he returned from Germany, Ma's husband worked at the Pentagon for a number of years. Just a few months before his office was turned into a public crematorium, he opted for an early retirement package. We're all grateful that he did, but none more than my mother.

There are any number of fascinating back stories like Sonny's that are woven into the fabric of this tragedy. I prefer those tales of tragedy and heroism to the hype and hoopla going on at ground zero this morning.

One such back story is that hundreds didn't perish in the twin towers that day simply because they ignored official instructions to stay put and wait for help. Instead, they got the hell out before the buildings fell down. That is the American spirit. To act boldy rather than to meekly comply while waiting for further instructions.

We honor those who lost their lives & we remember because of the sheer magnitude of the carnage. But we've lost more than that. In the eleven years following September 11, 2001 our liberties have eroded at an alarming pace. We've allowed the imposition of an ever expanding police state in exchange for a little bit of government supplied Security Theater.

Kip Hawley, former head of TSA.....

.....wants us to trust that a 400-ml bottle of liquid is dangerous, but transferring it to four 100-ml bottles magically makes it safe. He wants us to trust that the butter knives given to first-class passengers are nevertheless too dangerous to be taken through a security checkpoint. He wants us to trust the no-fly list: 21,000 people so dangerous they’re not allowed to fly, yet so innocent they can’t be arrested. He wants us to trust that the deployment of expensive full-body scanners has nothing to do with the fact that the former secretary of homeland security, Michael Chertoff, lobbies for one of the companies that makes them.

Joe Bidet insists that Americans are better off today because Bin Laden is dead. That's dead. Dead wrong. A trillion-plus dollars and untold lives later, America is no safer than it was on September 10, 2001. One has to look no further than the friendly airport security line to realize that.